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CHRIS HANNAH of Propagandhi
Propagandhi has been at the centre of activist and punk Winnipeg for at least a decade and a half. Their political expression begins in the content of their music and in the way they live their lives, and spins off into their "parecon"-run record label, G7 Welcoming Committee Records, based in Winnipeg's Old Market Autonomous Zone. Chris and the rest of Propagandhi have been around long enough to define and redefine for themselves both what it means to play "political" rock, and the parameters of what a group of musicians can do in pursuit of social change.
For one thing, Chris has seen changes in the place of progressive political expression in our culture. In a way, he says, political expression in music has been rendered trite, along the same lines as boymeets-girl-boy-loses-girl songs. "Both areas are full of platitudes that intentionally reference catchwords - like 'revolution' and 'love,' respectively," he explains, "to assure...